Death Affects The Living Or The Dead Most?

It's curious. The reaction of people when faced with a question about death obviously redirects the line of thought to an analysis of life. Well, on a subconscious level anyway, for not many individuals understand or admit the effect that thoughts of death play on their everyday life.

As shown within the results and comments of the first survey, a large number of our community (all but one of the survey samples) believe in reincarnation and/or a continued existence after death; that we return to the Earth in one form or another. Why then does there seem to be such an ignored apprehension of death, and (dare I say) hypocrisy regarding motivation for our roles in life? The words, "death is just a change" seems to me like a cop-out, an accurate string of words that allows one to quickly evade any true consideration of what death means to them inside. It is accurate, death is a change, the greatest change that can be experienced by humans. What it is inaccurate about is the level of change death causes around it, on those who have not died but are still affected by it, and this is what we will explore.

So many folks have stated that death plays little importance in their everyday life, but plays a major role in the stability, order, and well-being of the universe. So how can this be? That death is a major cycle of the universe, yet we are able to continue, for the most part, unaffected by its inevitable presence and invariable patience? To sum it up quickly: We don't.

I don't intend to imply that death of any life form has the same effect on us. When we bite into a pear or a wholesome zucchini, not may (if any) of us feel a pang of remorse or regret! Yet more than a few indicated, on the survey, that they do indeed feel remorse when a plant dies. But how realistic is this? With all the vegetables and fruits we consume, wouldn't the mental shock of "destroying" all that life have SOME psychological effect on the person? Yet, we don't see in the nightly news headers such as "Vegetarian woman dies of malnutrition; she claimed to be able to stand taking a life" or "Young boy throws himself off of building: he is said to have an extreme phobia for stabbing broccoli with his fork."

It should be given that the average person is striving to be the best person they know how to be, and sentimentalism is usual a large part of bettering yourself. Our society in general has become cold and insensitive towards violence and destruction, but never has it transverse its deep-seated fear of death.

More so than plants, sentiments of regret for an animals death abounded! Yet how does one classify "animal?" Do we break down in tears when we swat a mosquito or flush a tick down the toilet? I don't. Do you have seizures when eating a hamburger? Do you ever really consider the process by which that hamburger made it to your plate? Not many do. I do, however, get quite aggravated when hearing of the slaughter of elephants for their tusks or a lion for its coat.

And, of course, the death of a family member or a loved one will almost Always have a severe effect on our emotional status and stability! Yet, perhaps not surprisingly, in our society, the death of a person in some far off place has little or no affect on our persona. We do not grieve for the young street boy who was gunned down by another child in an LA ghetto. If you say you do, ask yourself how many die that you do not hear about, and where are your tears for them?

Does this mean that we are horrible, nasty, good-for-nothing hypocrites? Not if we don't disillusion ourselves by claiming that death in any form bothers us.

Admittedly, it is difficult in modern times to feel any sympathy for the death of those outside the main track of our everyday lives. Part of the reason for this is the media's constant barrage of gory "news" and violent movies. Children today grow up with more violence and death than past years of the modern era, and they of course hold to the media lessons well into adulthood.

The level of death that is imposed on our everyday lives extends far beyond movies, TV, and newspapers. Many children's toys, video games, underwear, socks, sneakers, and shirts all express images of violence and death. Am I drawing any direct conclusions from these obvious, yet often overlooked, observations? No. I merely point out that while death may not play a conscious role in your every action, it is indeed a part of you everyday life and interactions. To say otherwise would be incredibly naive.

So, what is the media teaching us? They don't even include any of the practical information like saying that death of all kinds (even murders) is the necessary balance of life. Nor that without death, the human population would increase to the point that we would suffocate ourselves on this small planet. And, unless it is a celebrity of some kind, they don't even share with us any of the spiritual influences death has.

So what does the media teach us? Only that it occurs in the most gruesome ways within our society, and, as shown by the ratings during the "murder" sections of the news, that America (and the world in general) has an extraordinary blood lust. This in turn strengthens societies anti-sentimentalist format.

Now that we see that death does surround us, we can start digging to the "heart" of its effect on us.

As stated, the majority believes in an afterlife, that there is some cycle of energy that will eventually bring us back to "true" life as another being. Hence, there is no reason to fear death; it is just a new beginning. And how many believe this deep inside? Hopefully, I can now prove to you that not many (if any) hold these beliefs in the deepest part of their heart.

The survey says: 71.4% of the sample believes spiritual advancement is most important, 26.2% material and spiritual growth are of equal importance, and 2.4% hold material growth paramount. It can be assumed that spiritual growth should be viewed as more important because we are only manifest in material form for a short time, we then "die," and our spiritual form continues on; therefore, why waste time developing a the part of us that will only be around for a fraction of our true existence?

I'd tend to agree! However, only 10.3% listed at least ONE of their greatest achievements as a spiritual advancement or of a spiritual nature! And only two people had two achievements of a spiritual nature listed! Why is this?

It is fear of death inspires them to achieve what they can in this life, because, you never know, they may be wrong about what follows death. If this were not true, what prevents us from simply wasting lifetime after lifetime on petty enjoyment with no true substance to our goals? For all those who procrastinate on boring piles of paper work, life would quickly become a year round vacation! For all those who procrastinate on Anything, they would soon find it quite easy to procrastinate on Everything!

"Awww gee Momma, school can wait, I have an eternity to learn all that boring stuff... Davey and I are going to Woodstock III. Catcha after three drug induced fun filled weeks,"

Many also agree that plants are very similar in reincarnation respects to humans and other animals; they die and then simply re-materialize in another form at a future time. So why then is there so much fuss about the destruction of the tropical rain forests? Or the removal of woodland area for cities? The plants will grow back SOMEWHERE, right?

Let's leave that aside for a moment to ruminate. Another popular response on the survey is that life itself inspired goals to be achieved. That can't be. If true life is believed to be eternal by these same persons, (and their remarks reflect that they do,) then it cannot be the driving motivation for our achievements. Goals are always set against a limiting factor, which is usually time. "Eternity," however, implies unlimited time and therefore the limiting factor is removed, and along with it, any motivation to complete a task in a given amount of time. This in itself would reinforce, and indeed, give rise to a multiplication of procrastinators, which we have already discussed above.

An extremely unbalanced pattern is beginning to emerge: However strongly we hold or preach our beliefs externally, deep inside, there is always the fear of death influencing the more prominent decisions of our life.

Finally, I ask, "What, more than time, is an ultimate limiting factor for humans?" The answer for this should be quite obvious: Death.

Recently, you'll recall, we lost one of the greatest people who ever walked among us. On August 31, 1997 Princes Diana was killed in a terrible car crash, (Thank-you Diana for all you've done for us,) and mourners from all over the world gathered in London to attend her funeral ceremony. Those who were unable to make the trip to London grieved in their own areas: flowers lay heaped in a beautiful mound in front of the English Embassy in New York City. Countless more cried in their homes...

And everyone of us realized how truly fleeting life is, and began looking deep within our hearts and asking: "What can I say I have accomplished? What do I have to be proud of?" (Let us hope that all of us came up with some answer that lent comfort to our hearts and peace to our minds.)

How it pains me to draw analytical conclusions from a lose so great, it is what we all have done. The millions who showed to mourn Diana's death did it for themselves; for their own peace of mind, not for hers. Surely, it was out of respect and love for her that they grieved, but it was out of pain and sorrow within themselves that they saw fit to go out of their way to attend the funeral or lay flowers with millions of others at the Embassy doorway.

Furthermore, though it may seem harsh and cold, society may own more to Diana's death than to her life. For in death, being such a wonderful and visible person in life, she has (I hope) struck a beginning of society turning its eyes inward and initiated a new era of social reform. That she should die being chased by tabloid writers is tragedy, but knowing that we are the ones who promote such accidents with our purchases is horror! And society, in all countries, is beginning to question itself.

The point I drive at is that death affects not the dead, but the living. It is the motivational force behind individual achievements as well as humanities achievements as a whole! We fight year after year to develop cures for cancer and AIDS and MS, and I hope we find all with good speed. We fight for these things because we wish to prolong our life, or rather to prolong our encounter with death.

Don't misinterpret please. I say not that we fear what comes after death, rather that we fear the instant which IS death.

"A new beginning death may be...
but a terrible ending first." ~Markus

Yet it remains... how dead is dead? and how gone is gone?
We shall address these questions in the next and final Survey.

Blessings,
~Markus